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Professor Nigel Duncan

Professor of Legal Education

The City Law School Professional law programmes

Contact details

Address

Professor Nigel Duncan T502,
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Nigel Duncan is Professor of Legal Education at The City Law School, City University, London. He is Course Director of the LLM in Professional Legal Skills. His main teaching is on the Bar Professional Training Course where he also co-ordinates the FRU Option which involves students in representing real clients in the employment tribunals. He also teaches an LLM in Criminal Litigation and supervises student dissertations. He is Academic Lead for Assessment for City University and a University Teaching and Learning Fellow. He is a member of the Bar Standards Board Education and Training Committee.

Earlier in his career he established the first Law Access course in the UK and taught on undergraduate courses. A particular interest there was designing interactive teaching methods to develop problem-solving and intellectual skills as well as critical understanding of the law in context. This led to developing clinical courses whereby students learn through real and realistic work with clients. To develop these interests and a focus for justice and human rights he was engaged in the development of new organisations: the Clinical Legal Education Organisation and the Global Alliance for Justice Education.

He is a Director of the International Association of Legal Ethics, and, with Professor Andy Boon, convenor of the Legal Ethics Forum of City Law School’s Centre for the Study of Legal Professional Practice. They hosted the 6th International Legal Ethics Conference in 2014 and Nigel continues to organise his Teaching Legal Ethics UK series of workshops.

His research has recently focused on the preparation of ethical professional lawyers. His work in this field has led to a number of conference presentations. He has introduced a website designed as an interactive resource and forum for those interested in the education and training of legal professionals - www.teachinglegalethics.org.

He is convenor of Teaching Legal Ethics UK, a community of practice including members from many different law schools and some practitioners, which holds regular workshops.

He is consultant editor of the refereed journal The Law Teacher, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Legal Education Review and of the International Advisory Panel of the International Journal of the Legal Profession. He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in 2004 and in 2015 became a Principal Fellow of the HEA. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Advanced Legal Studies and has acted as Chair of the Association of Law Teachers, where he remains a Committee member. He is advisory counsel to the Academic and Professional Development Committee of the International Bar Association. He was until its demise, a member of the Advisory Board and Strategy Committee of the UK Centre for Legal Education.

He is editor, with Chris Ashford and Jessica Guth, of Perspectives on Legal Education (Routledge, 2015), editor and main contributor to Employment Law in Practice (12th ed., OUP, 2016), co-editor of Opinion Writing and Case Preparation (4th ed., OUP, forthcoming 2016) and is, with Hugh Brayne and Richard Grimes, author of Clinical Legal Education: Active Learning in your Law School (Blackstone 1998). He is the author of many articles, predominantly in the field of legal education, professional development and ethics.

Qualifications: PGCE, LLM (LSE)

Qualifications

  1. LLM, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, 1978 – 1980

Publications

Publications by category

Books (8)

  1. Ashford, C., Duncan, N. and Guth, J. (2018). Perspectives on Legal Education Contemporary Responses to the Lord Upjohn Lectures. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-61451-2.
  2. Duncan, N., Ashford, C. and Guth, J. (2015). Perspectives on Legal Education Contemporary Responses to the Upjohn Lectures. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-81258-1.
  3. Duncan, N.J. (2014). Employment Law in Practice. Duncan, N.J. (Ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957919-8.
  4. Duncan, N. and Wolfgarten, A. (2014). Opinion writing and case preparation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-871443-9.
  5. Duncan, N.J., Duncan, N.J. and Hungerford-Welch, P.J. (2014). Employment Law in Practice. Oxford University Press.
  6. Duncan, N. (2012). Employment law in practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-964152-9.
  7. Duncan, N. (2009). Case Preparation 2008-2009. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955354-9.
  8. Brayne, H., Duncan, N. and Grimes, R. (1998). Clinical legal education: Active learning in your law school. London: Blackstone Press. ISBN 978-1-85431-831-2.

Chapters (15)

  1. Duncan, N. (2019). Prepared for Practice? Assessment for the Bar, 1975-2015. In Bone, A. and Maharg, P. (Eds.), Assessment in Legal Education: Critical Perspectives on the Scholarship of Assessment of Learning in Law, Vol 1: England ANU Press. ISBN 978-1-76046-301-4.
  2. Duncan, N. (2019). Resilience, positive motivation and professional identity: the experience of law clinic students working with real clients’. In Strevens, C. and Field, R. (Eds.), Educating for Wellbeing: Positive Professional Identities and Practice Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-47756-8.
  3. Duncan, N., Strevens, C. and Field, R. (2019). Self Care as a Professional Virtue for Lawyers. In Strevens, C. and Field, R. (Eds.), Educating for Wellbeing: Positive Professional Identities and Practice Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-47756-8.
  4. Duncan, N.J. (2016). Undertaking Peer Review. In Ashford, C. and Guth, J. (Eds.), The Legal Academic's Handbook (pp. 52–55). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-43428-9.
  5. Duncan, N. (2016). The Letter and Spirit of the Code: Professional ethics and personal values. Professional Ethics (pp. 65–74). Oxford: OUP. ISBN 978-0-19-876597-4.
  6. Duncan, N.J. (2015). Representation: Objectivity and artistry for trainee lawyers. In Courtney, N., Poulsen, C. and Stylios, C. (Eds.), Case Based Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century. (pp. 171–198). Faringdon, Oxfordshire: Libri Publishing.
  7. Duncan, N.J. (2015). PREPARATION FOR PRACTICE: DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ADVOCATES IN A CHANGING WORLD OF ADVERSARIAL CIVIL JUSTICE. In Ashford, C., Duncan, N.J. and Guth, J. (Eds.), Perspectives on Legal Education Abingdon: Routledge.
  8. Duncan, N.J. and Kay, S. (2011). Addressing Lawyer Competence, Ethics, and Professionalism. In Bloch, F.S. (Ed.), The Global Clinical Movement: Educating Lawyers for Social Justice (pp. 183–195). New York: Oxford Univ Press. ISBN 978-0-19-538114-6.
  9. Duncan, N.J. (2011). Addressing emotions in preparing ethical lawyers. In Maharg, P. and Maughan, C. (Eds.), Affect and Legal Education
    Emotion in Learning and Teaching the Law     (pp. 257–282). Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-1026-3.
  10. Duncan, N.J. and Jones, A.P. (2011). Developing reflection on values as a foundation for a business career. In Wankel, C. and Stachowicz-Stanusch, A. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Teaching Ethics in Business and Management Education (pp. 80–99). Information Science Reference. ISBN 978-1-61350-510-6.
  11. Duncan, N.J. (2010). The Letter and Spirit of the Code. In Blake, S., Carne, R., Browne, J. and Duncan, N. (Eds.), Professional Ethics (pp. 58–67). Oxford Univ Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959185-5.
  12. Duncan, N.J. (2010). Preparation: a forensic skill. In Duncan, N. and Wolfgarten, A. (Eds.), Opinion writing and case preparation (p. 3). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959184-8.
  13. Duncan, N.J. (2010). Preparation for the practitioner. In Duncan, N.J. and Wolfgarten, A. (Eds.), Opinion writing and case preparation (p. 229). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959184-8.
  14. Duncan, N.J. (2009). Remedies for unlawful discrimination. In Emmet, D. and School, T.C.L. (Eds.), Remedies 2009-2010 (p. 183). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-956856-7.
  15. Duncan, N.J. (2002). Responsibility and ethics in professional legal education. In Burridge, R. and Britain, I.F.L.A.T.I.H.E.G. (Eds.), Effective learning & teaching in law (p. 105). London: Kogan Page. ISBN 978-0-7494-3568-4.

Conference papers and proceedings (3)

  1. Duncan, N.J., Baughan, P., Dymiotis-Wellington, C., Halsall, S., Litosseliti, L. and Vielba, (2009). Promoting good academic practice through the curriculum and project work. Teaching and Learning 7th London Scholarship of International Conference London.
  2. Duncan, N.J. and Harrington, C. Using digital video to develop student perceptions of their learning in dance and in trial advocacy.
  3. Duncan, N.J. A live clinic course for a referral profession.

Journal articles (36)

  1. Duncan, N., Field, R. and Strevens, C. (2020). Ethical Imperatives for Legal Educators to Promote Law Student Wellbeing. Legal Ethics. doi:10.1080/1460728x.2020.1834070.
  2. Duncan, N., Field, R. and Strevens, C. (2020). Resilience and student wellbeing in Higher Education: A theoretical basis for establishing law school responsibilities for helping our students to thrive. European Journal of Legal Education, 1(1), pp. 83–115.

    [publisher’s website]

  3. Duncan, N. (2019). In-house lawyers’ ethics: institutional logics, legal risk and the tournament of influence. The Law Teacher, 53(3), pp. 385–387. doi:10.1080/03069400.2019.1626568.
  4. Duncan, N. (2018). A history of Australian legal education, by David Barker, Annandale, VA, The Federation Press, 2017, xii + 275 pp., £34.89 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-76002-142-9. The Law Teacher, 52(1), pp. 126–127. doi:10.1080/03069400.2017.1413622.
  5. Duncan, N.J. (2015). A FUTURE FOR LEGAL EDUCATION:
    PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS.     Nottingham Law Journal, 24.
  6. Duncan, N.J. (2012). Preparing for the Challenge of a Corrupt Environment. European Journal of Legal Education, 7(1), p. 21.
  7. Duncan, N.J. and Hutchinson, T. (2012). Defining and describing what we do: Doctrinal legal research. Deakin Law Review, 17(1), p. 83.
  8. Duncan, N.J. (2011). A student guide to clinical legal education and pro bono (ed Kerrigan and Murray). Law Teach, 45, p. 298.
  9. Duncan, N.J. (2010). Batting for a Future: An Ethics Response to the Challenges Facing Law Schools. Nottingham Law Journal, 19(1), pp. 1–11.

    [publisher’s website]

  10. Duncan, N.J. (2010). Preparing Ethical Lawyers: A Prescription and a Practical Proposal. Legal Ethics, 13(1), pp. 79–92. doi:10.5235/146072810791655224.

    [publisher’s website]

  11. Duncan, N.J. (2010). Community engagement in contemporary legal education: Pro bono, clinical legal education and service-learning (ed Keyzer, Kenworthy & Wilson). Law Teach, 44, p. 99.
  12. Duncan, N.J. (2010). Sequence of deductions from Industrial Tribunal awards. Law Teacher, 32, pp. 211–211.
  13. Duncan, N.J. and Maharg, P. (2007). Black box, Pandora’s box or virtual toolbox? An experiment in a journal’s transparent peer review on the web. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 21, p. 109. doi:10.1080/13600860701492104.

    [publisher’s website]

  14. Duncan, N.J. and Chandler, S. (2007). Learning professional ethics – an international perspective. Legal Ethics, 9(2), p. 160.
  15. Duncan, N.J. (2006). Pro Bono Legis Doctorum: 40 Years of the Law Teacher. Law Teach, 40, p. 313.
  16. Duncan, N.J. (2006). Unfair dismissal: Procedure, fairness and compensation. Law Teach, 40, p. 336.
  17. Duncan, N.J. (2005). Training and licensing lawyers in England and Wales. Bar Examiner, 74(4), p. 16.
  18. Duncan, N.J. (2005). Reconcilable Rights? (Cape). Law Teach, 39, p. 221.
  19. Duncan, N.J. (2005). Ethical practice and clinical legal education. International Journal of Clinical Legal Education, 7.

    [publisher’s website]

  20. Duncan, N.J. (2003). Gatekeepers training hurdlers: the training and accreditation of lawyers in England and Wales. Georgia State University Law Review, 20(4), pp. 911–945.
  21. Duncan, N.J. (2002). Employment Tribunal Procedure (McMullen, Eady & Tuck). Law Teach, 36, p. 430.
  22. Duncan, N.J. (2001). The Law School – Global Issues, Local Questions (Cownie). Legal Ethics, 4, p. 85.
  23. Duncan, N.J. (1999). Ethical Challenges to Legal Education and Conduct (Economides) and The Ethics and Conduct of Lawyers in England and Wales (Boon & Levin). Law Teach, 33, p. 380.
  24. Duncan, N.J. (1998). Why Lawyers Behave as They Do (Haskell). Law Teach, 32, p. 347.
  25. Duncan, N.J. (1997). Clinical legal education. Axiom, 1, pp. 1–40.
  26. Duncan, N.J. (1997). The skill of learning: implications of the ACLEC First Report on teaching skills on undergraduate law courses. Web Journal of Current Legal Issues, (5).

    [publisher’s website]

  27. Duncan, N.J. (1997). On your feet in the industrial tribunal. Journal of Professional Legal Education, 14, p. 169.
  28. Duncan, N.J. (1996). On your feet in the industrial tribunal. Contemporary Issues in Law, 2, p. 53.
  29. Duncan, N.J. (1995). Law and Practice of Disciplinary and Regulatory Proceedings (Harris). Law Teach, 29, p. 393.
  30. Duncan, N.J. (1994). Race discrimination and European Community Law. Socialist Lawyer.
  31. Duncan, N.J. (1993). FRU and the Bar Vocational Course. New Law Journal, 143, p. 1580.
  32. Duncan, N.J. (1991). Why legal skills - whither legal education? Law Teacher, 25, pp. 142–142.
  33. Duncan, N.J. (1990). Testing the third route: researching the effectiveness of access courses in Law. Law Teacher.
  34. Duncan, N.J. and Boon, A. (1990). An elite profession facing demographic change. Journal of Access Studies, 4(1).
  35. Duncan, N.J. (1990). Legal Education and the Legal Profession (part 1). New Law Journal, 140, p. 200.
  36. Duncan, N.J. (1990). Legal education and the legal profession (part 2). New Law Journal, 140, p. 294.

Reports (3)

  1. Duncan, N.J. (2011). Why teach legal ethics on undergraduate law degrees? City University London.
  2. Duncan, N.J. (2009). Teaching ethics pervasively or in discrete modules? London: City University London.
  3. Duncan, N.J. and Chandler, S. Survey of ethics teaching..

Professional activities

Editorial activity (3)

  1. Consultant Editor: The Law Teacher.
  2. Editorial Advisory Board: Legal Education Review.
  3. International Advisory Board, International Journal of the Legal Profession.

Events/conferences (8)

  1. Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference. St Catherine's College, Oxford University (2016).
    Description: Presented Paper: 'Wild card modules: Student experience of domestic violence, employment and social security clients on a credit-bearing module'.
  2. 7th International Legal Ethics Conference. Fordham Law School, New York, USA (2016).
    Description: Presented a paper: 'Facing the challenge of corruption: educating for experience in the cognitive and affective domains'.

    Stream co-ordinator.
  3. Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference. Northumbria Law School (2016).
    Description: Presented paper: 'Researching collaboration with legal service providers to promote deep integrated learning'
  4. 8th Worldwide Conference, Global Alliance for Justice Education. Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey (2015).
    Description: Paper: Education and Corruption: The Contribution of Experiential Learning; Panel speaker: Learning Legal Ethics through Clinics.
  5. Association of Law Teachers Assessment Conference. Institute of Avanced Legal Studies, London (2015).
    Description: Paper: Prepared for Practice? Assessment for the Bar, 1975 – 2015
  6. 6th International Legal Ethics Conference. City University London (2014).
    Description: Ran Conference and led two Panel sessions:
    Responding to the ethics and values recommendations of the Legal Education and Training Review: What and Why?, and
    Responding to the ethics and values recommendations of the Legal Education and Training Review: How?
  7. W G Hart Legal Workshop. Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (2014).
    Description: Paper: A FUTURE FOR LEGAL EDUCATION:
    PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS
  8. Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference. Leeds (2014).
    Description: Paper: Representation: Objectivity and artistry for trainee lawyers

Keynote lectures/speeches (3)

  1. Teaching legal ethics for practice in a corrupt environment. Queen Mary, University of London (2018).
  2. Wild card modules: Student experience of domestic violence, employment and social security clients on a credit-bearing module. University College Dublin (2017). SLS Annual Conference
  3. A future for legal education: professional development and ethics. Loughborough University (2014). Keynote speech at the HEA Law Summit.